


if you close your eyes

by rosegoldblood



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Character Death, Character Study, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Gen, Open to Interpretation, Platonic Female/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25572199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegoldblood/pseuds/rosegoldblood
Summary: does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all?
Relationships: Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano & Leo Valdez, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano/Leo Valdez
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	if you close your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> y'all: not writing leyna  
> me: fine. i'll do it myself.
> 
> will i regret this in the morning? probably. i might delete this later if doesn't get Clout™.

leo was dying. either that, or he was already dead.

he'd gone through death once before. only for a second, but enough to glimpse - to soar in and out - of the awful in-between. where the forgotten and the lonely went to stay.

people didn't get sent to the fields or elysium immediately. contrary to popular belief. there was a prequel, of sorts, a waiting room while they calculated your sins and judged you for actions they'd done in the past. but no. they were the judges, they were the gods. no one else got to play at executioner.

"what is this place?" reyna snapped, alert and stoic as always. her hair loose, hanging down around her shoulders. in any other situation leo might have called her pretty. beautiful, even.

but as it were, she just looked vulnerable. and afraid. 

"waiting room," leo said bitterly, "you think the gods are fair? they pick and choose as they go, y'know. and if you're forever deemed too boring for their little sadistic minds, well."

reyna looked stricken, her fingers bunching into the fabric of his shirt. "that's... terrible," she said, slowly. poised as always. arm around his shoulders, bleeding out, the limp she walked with making her around even with leo's height despite how tall she was usually.

"i thought," leo started shakily, voice echoing in the deep darkness, "maybe... after all i'd done... i'd be important enough. interesting enough. i'd take any acceptance. even from those douchebags up there." he ran a hand down his face, nails creaking against reyna's armour plate. "but no. this is all i get. a few slaps across the face, kick in the shins, for doing something useful for once."

he let his head drop, hair hanging low over his forehead. considered making a joke. but he was dying. he was dead. there was no more point in pretending. "nobody ever said thank you. i thought at least they'd do that."

silence. the poison from the claw marks on leo's leg was seeping into his veins, fatigue crawling up his lower half. "thank you," reyna said hoarsely through the dim, "i know i never said it, so thank you."

"thanks," leo murmured, grinning crookedly in a pale imitation of what he used to be. he wished he could go back. he wished he had energy to do something more than speak and resist keeling over.

"you don't need to thank me," reyna replied, honesty in her voice. she was pointedly looking straight ahead, eyes sad, jaw locked in - anger? sadness? wistfulness? hell if leo knew. he didn't know anything anymore. "you know, i... i guess i can... relate. about not being interesting or not fitting in..."

she turned her face, just slightly, upward, as if holding back tears. "i always tried. to be a good praetor, a good friend, a good person. but i was never enough. not for my - sister -" her voice cracked at this, "not for jason."

leo nodded sympathetically, fingers digging into the flesh of her arm. he'd caught the wistful glances reyna had cast piper and jason's way, the grit to her teeth whenever they kissed. it was the same thing he felt, seeing the only people you think might love you be lost to someone else, or each other.

"i never was really jealous of piper," reyna continued, voice acidic like the words didn't taste good on her tongue, "i was never that. not some jealous ex. i - i just missed him."

god, that hit home.

"i missed him, too."

more silence, quiet falling over them. they'd never talked to each other, past the shallow flirtations and the annoyed rejections, or the quick directions or warnings on the battlefield. never outside of that. but leo felt like - through the terrible pounding in his head - he understood her. and on some deeper level he felt like maybe she understood him too. it was nice. the idea of being understood.

she coughed. blood on her hands, onton her her face, trailing from her bottom lip to her chin. "i never thought it'd be you," she said, removing her arm from around his shoulders. they ached, but leo missed the weight, the proof of her existence. proof she wasn't a fucked-up delusion in his last moments.

"me neither," he admitted, and reyna gave a humourless laugh. "kinda fucked up, no? it's always what you least expect. or the person, i guess, whatever."

"language," was all she had to say, and leo laughed. genuinely. it was a real laugh, and he was surprised by how good it felt. "i admit... i don't mind it much. that it's you. i know you think that you're not as good as other people. but i think you're pretty cool."

"oh... thanks," leo responded awkwardly, "you know. um. i think it's awesome how you're so independent and strong and - i know you've been through a lot. so. i think it's - impressive that you're still so strong today." he flushed. "if that makes sense."

reyna hummed noncommittally. "i wonder if jason and piper will have kids. or percy and annabeth. it's so weird to think... i wonder if we'd get to see them from up there."

" _if_ we ever get up there," leo corrected, then sighed. "i'd be glad, though. isn't it like a thing that demigods die young?" he stiffened when he realised how accurate that was to the situation they were in. "um. yeah. but i'd never want that. i hate kids."

"me too," reyna said, a smile curving on her face. "we're more similar than we thought, it seems. maybe we were just too busy pretending for everyone else to notice."

leo laughed, again, but this time it was broken and shattered like glass. he could barely latch on to what she was saying, and when he replied something - long and a run-on sentence that probably didn't make as much sense as he wanted it to - he could tell reyna couldn't either. 

with a last burst of energy he pulled her in for a hug. she was too tired to resist, arms locking around him like instinct. "thank you," leo murmured through the tears streaking down his cheeks. "i love you."

reyna's speech was slurred and muffled by his hair when she replied. 

"i love you, too." 

**Author's Note:**

> okay now that i'm more coherent i just thought i'd say that it's totally up to you, the reader, to interpret whether or not they do love each other or not, or whether it's romantic or platonic.
> 
> just thought it'd be poetic to write two people who barely know each other being the only thing the other has left 😔 ✌️ also i wrote this on my phone, i'm pretty sure you can tell ✌️ and i'm not straight,, i swear,,, i just care them


End file.
